Into Thin Air - literature choice for 6th grade?

[SJ.]

If you are familiar with the book Into Thin Air, will you comment on whether it is appropriate for 6th grade. Specifically regarding content and whether it could keep an average student's interest.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Into-Thin-Air-Personal-Disaster/dp/0385494785

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

It's certainly a GRIPPING book...  Whether or not it is appropriate is probably very child-dependent.  

 

There is a lot of meat in it, in terms of ethical dilemmas, perceived experience vs reality...  I could go on.  :-)  But there is relatively graphic portrayals of death and physical harm.  It's definitely a better choice than Into the Wild... but I would definitely pre-read!

 

ETA:  Sorry I used the word "definitely" three times in a row.  Hate it when I do that!

Edited December 17, 2016 by Monica_in_Switzerland

[mamamoose]

I have thought about this book for my 5th grader--will be interested to hear from others as well. I read it quite a while ago.

[regentrude]

No, I do not consider this a good choice for an average 6th grader.

 

I would advise against it for a sensitive child, or for a child whose parents climb mountains. Parts of it are pretty difficult to handle. The scene where Rob Hall talks to his pregnant wife on the satellite phone  shortly before he dies makes me cry every time. And the story of Beck Weathers who is left without help overnight because they think he is dying anyway (he doesn't) is tough, too.

 

I would consider the book OK for a 6th grader who is emotionally robust, not easily fazed by things he reads in a book, and has a special interest in mountain expeditions. But I don't think it is a very suitable book for the age group, nor for a student who is not particularly interested in mountaineering expeditions. It is a book written for an adult audience.

Edited December 18, 2016 by regentrude

[Ms Brooks]

No, I do not consider this a good choice for an average 6th grader.

 

I would advise against it for a sensitive child, or for a child whose parents climb mountains. Parts of it are pretty difficult to handle. The scene where Rob Hall talks to his pregnant wife on the satellite phone  shortly before he dies makes me cry every time. And the story of Beck Weathers who is left without help overnight because they think he is dying anyway (he doesn't) is tough, too.

 

I would consider the book OK for a 6th grader who is emotionally robust, not easily fazed by things he reads in a book, and has a special interest in mountain expeditions. But I don't think it is a very suitable book for the age group, nor for a student who is not particularly interested in mountaineering expeditions. It is a book written for an adult audience.

 

 

I concur. I read this book in tandem with my 8th grade DD this past fall. I would not recommend this book for a younger child, and even in 8th grade, I did not discuss all of the deeper topics raised by this account of an accent on Mt. Everest gone wrong. Regentrude is right, this book is written for an adult/high school audience. It asks some important questions about who if anyone should be on Everest, what is left behind, and how culture is changed for this pursuit.

 

A 6th grader might enjoy George's Secret Key to the Universe more. 

[Farrar]

When I was school teaching, we used to do a book club every year where kids chose a book on a theme and one year that was one of the choices, but only for 8th graders. I have to admit it's been awhile so I can't remember specifically why, but I remember thinking it was really right for some of the kids, but that it was too much for most of them. So I'm going to agree with 8th grade and up.

 

If I had a kid who specifically wanted to read it as a 6th grader, I wouldn't say no unless there were specific reasons to deny them though.

[EndOfOrdinary]

We are a mountaineering family, so a lot of the content is something I am well aware of, and it even bothers me. Capitalizing on the experience in the form of a book makes it even worse in my opinion.

 

However, we are also long distance backpackers and my son greatly enjoyed Into the Wild which was listed above by a PP. That did not traumatize either of us in the least. We live in a tiny cabin, in a National Forest, deliberately leaving society, and dropping our inner city house in exchange for voluntary simplicity. Both Ds and I found the actions of Alexander SuperTramp wholly ridiculous. My son read it in 5th grade and openly declared "Of course he died! He was a moron!" So, the whole deal is very person specific.

 

My question would be why? With the multitude of books, why this one? If the kid is really all about it, I would let them read it. Just discuss with them the ability to put it away for a day, month, year, forever, what have them if they want with no second thought.

[luuknam]

Both Ds and I found the actions of Alexander SuperTramp wholly ridiculous. My son read it in 5th grade and openly declared "Of course he died! He was a moron!" So, the whole deal is very person specific.

 

Likewise, my kids (then 5 and 9yo) saw a documentary a few months ago about people climbing Everest, which did include several people dying (including that guy phoning his pregnant wife and the guy left for dead who didn't die a PP mentioned), and they had the same opinion - climbing Everest is stupid. I haven't read Into Thin Air though, so I don't know how it would compare.

 

I did see Into The Wild a few months ago as well (my wife saw it too, the kids didn't), and it bothered me. Not a whole lot, but it did (especially the details we looked up about when he was found, and how there was a bridge not far, etc). Probably because it's more like the kind of thing people I know might do than climb Everest.

[Miss Tick]

I read Into Thin Air as an adult and felt very informed by it, but also horrified by parts. In conjunction with that I read Annapurna: A Woman's Place: . It is a very similar story about an all-women expedition. The difference in approach and problem resolution was interesting to me. That book was very similar, but Lee's intense.

 

ETA: fixed the title.

Edited December 19, 2016 by SusanC

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

What about Julie of the Wolves for a survival story that is very rich in depth, slightly more mature than elementary literature, but not particularly gory.  Hatchett is another option, but I think Julie has more to discuss in it.  

[SJ.]

Thanks so much for all the responses.  I have decided not to ask DS to read the book. 

 

The reason this book came up is because the final project of the WTMA Socratic Discussion class is based off of this book.  The assignment is to read an abridged version of the book, annotate it, and choose a project from a list.  The instructor mentioned the full book and said it was optional to read it.  I thought maybe it would be a good idea to read the entire book, if the book was appropriate for DS, instead of the abridged version.  Ultimately, the book sounds too intense, and I will be reading the abridged version so we can discuss it together. 

 

Thanks again for all of your insight!  Hopefully the abridged version is more appropriate for sixth grade.

SJ

[SJ.]

What about Julie of the Wolves for a survival story that is very rich in depth, slightly more mature than elementary literature, but not particularly gory.  Hatchett is another option, but I think Julie has more to discuss in it.  

 

Thanks for the suggestions.  Julie of the Wolves is on my list for a family audiobook.  I am glad to hear it is a good one. 

[Ms Brooks]

We are a mountaineering family, so a lot of the content is something I am well aware of, and it even bothers me. Capitalizing on the experience in the form of a book makes it even worse in my opinion.

 

However, we are also long distance backpackers and my son greatly enjoyed Into the Wild which was listed above by a PP. That did not traumatize either of us in the least. We live in a tiny cabin, in a National Forest, deliberately leaving society, and dropping our inner city house in exchange for voluntary simplicity. Both Ds and I found the actions of Alexander SuperTramp wholly ridiculous. My son read it in 5th grade and openly declared "Of course he died! He was a moron!" So, the whole deal is very person specific.

 

My question would be why? With the multitude of books, why this one? If the kid is really all about it, I would let them read it. Just discuss with them the ability to put it away for a day, month, year, forever, what have them if they want with no second thought.

 

I thought further investigation into Chris McCandless's story revealed that his reliance on a botany book about the edibility of native plants was in error. The roots of a native plant he believed safe to eat were in fact poisonous.

 

Both Into the Wild and Into Thin Air consider a kind of righteous personality that pushes boundaries with tragic consequences. Krakauer does not invite the reader to judge these people, rather he encourages the reader to examine their motivations.  "Of course he died! He was a moron!" is perhaps why a young reader should wait to read these types of books.

[EndOfOrdinary]

I thought further investigation into Chris McCandless's story revealed that his reliance on a botany book about the edibility of native plants was in error. The roots of a native plant he believed safe to eat were in fact poisonous.

 

Both Into the Wild and Into Thin Air consider a kind of righteous personality that pushes boundaries with tragic consequences. Krakauer does not invite the reader to judge these people, rather he encourages the reader to examine their motivations. "Of course he died! He was a moron!" is perhaps why a young reader should wait to read these types of books.

Well, actually it was not the botany book that provoked the idea the man was a moron. It was that he had no backup plan, did not adequately use the resources around him in terms of identifying people to learn the skills from, and in general had such an entitled attitude about what he was doing as if it was easily obtained. This is the exact behavior he was trying to run from, but due to not fully examining himself, he did not succeed.

 

The outburst was due to the man not realizing there was a bridge very, very close to him which could have resulted in him receiving medical attention (even self administered). It was arrogant. It was ridiculous. It wasn't that the boundary pushing was ridiculous.

 

We are voluntary simplicity folks. My son was not judging the motives of the person. He has grown up with them and might understand them far better than most adults. As in no running or hot water for a time, building fires in our house for heat since and chopping chords of firewood since he was 6, growing our own food, etc. Ds walked across the country at 7 as a long distance backpacker. He gets pushing boundaries. During that time he passd out due to not recieving enough calories since we couldn't physically carry enough and had to withstand gale force winds in the middle of a desert, he gets tragic consequences. Again, possibly more than many adults. My young person was very much in a place where this book was approriate.

[regentrude]

Well, actually it was not the botany book that provoked the idea the man was a moron. It was that he had no backup plan, did not adequately use the resources around him in terms of identifying people to learn the skills from, and in general had such an entitled attitude about what he was doing as if it was easily obtained. This is the exact behavior he was trying to run from, but due to not fully examining himself, he did not succeed.

 

The outburst was due to the man not realizing there was a bridge very, very close to him which could have resulted in him receiving medical attention (even self administered). It was arrogant. It was ridiculous. It wasn't that the boundary pushing was ridiculous.

 

This.

 

No, he probably could not have known that the seeds of the plant he consumed stored the toxin.

He could, however, have anticipated that it would be impossible to cross the river in flood, he should have educated himself on how to preserve the meat of the animal he shot, and he could have known that there was a ranger cabin six miles away.

 

He created an artificial situation in an actually not very deserted area of Alaska to satisfy his needs for going into the wild and living of the land when he was not remotely equipped to do so.